Electronic marketplaces, such as those accessible via the Internet, may include a catalog of items or products available for purchase. These items may be offered as the basis for commerce (e.g., sale or trade). In one example, customers may utilize a web browser to visit a merchant's website, select an item for purchase from the catalog, and engage in a checkout process to finalize an order for the item. The merchant may operate a fulfillment network including various facilities in order to process such orders. For instance, the merchant may operate one or more facilities for preparing shipments of purchased items. The merchant may rely on shipment carriers to deliver the shipments to the respective purchasing customers.
In the aforesaid checkout process, customers may present one or more payment instruments to the merchant, such as a credit card or other financial instrument that may be debited electronically. In most cases, merchants do not accept payment information on face; a payment verification process may be performed to ensure that the requisite funds are available in the account represented by the customer's payment instrument. In some cases, the merchant may reserve a quantity of funds equal to or greater than the total cost of a customer's order. In many cases, this reservation may persist until settlement of the respective transaction or until a predetermined expiration deadline. In cases where a reservation persists until the predetermined expiration deadline (e.g., as might happen if an order is canceled), the customer may be prohibited from using the reserved funds for other purposes until after that expiration deadline.
While the system and method for reusing payment authorizations is described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the system and method for reusing payment authorizations is not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the system and method for reusing payment authorizations to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the system and method for reusing payment authorizations as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.